Category: Uncategorised

Rising Costs & Maintaining Margins…

Inflation in the offing… It would be surprising if Sterling’s collapse didn’t lead to rising input costs Companies must pass rises on or see their margins fall Marmite, Walkers & Toblerone have been in the spotlight Others must follow – but consumer groups will be vigilant Where will the rises stop? Consumers will face higher…

Summer’s over, what was it like? Better than 2015 – but don’t get carried away…

Summer Weather – Better than 2015, let’s leave it at that…: So what was the weather like over the summer? It’s not a secret, here’s the Met Office data.   2015 2016 JUNE     ·         Temperature 0.3 degrees below av. 0.9 above ·         Rainfall ‘above average’ 39% > av. ·         Minimum Minus 1.9 degrees…

UK Pubs – A Great Institution, but…

Pubs have to be worked at, operators can’t rest easy: Should be taken as read. Only sometimes, it isn’t… Operators have limited control over weather, football, smoking bans, supermarket prices etc. But they can determine their own behaviour – because if you can’t fill your beer gardens now? Langton in the Lakes. On the ground…

Brexit and Leisure Spending…

Britain has voted 52:48 to leave the EU. Despite the likelihood it was a protest vote gone wrong, Britain has voted to leave the EU ‘Democracy must be served’ say hard-core Brexiters, Juncker & anti-UK nutters in Brussels But for the moment, nothing – other than the vote – has happened. Article 50 may be…

Margin watch. Rising costs threaten profitability over the medium term…

Some costs are rising but the CPI isn’t… Labour & commodity prices up, CPI stuck at 0.3% The oil price has doubled in 3mths, sugar is +71% on a year, OJ is +41% Soybeans are +19% & even coffee, corn & pigs (+6%, +9%, +15%) cost more NLW and NMW are jacking labour costs by…